Knitting

Do it!

Maybe because it's from a local (to me) designer and the Ravelry community around here is pretty much non existant is the reason there are few projects.

That's exactly what a lot of us love about it :)

Like anything, it's simple enough to get started you just need to put in a bit of practise to get the muscle memory down. And you can make a lot of very cool stuff with only the beginner stitches. But there are advanced techniques to keep things interesting once you have the basics sorted.

I just learned this year at 36yo and I'm a leftie (which always adds some complication). I started going to a knitting meetup once a week, but mostly learnt at home with my mom (she's been an avid knitter since she was 6yo) and through YouTube video tutorials. It has a learning curve like everything, but once you learn the basic stitches (knitting and purling) there's a whole bunch of things you can do. I started with hats, headbands and cowls.

It is very meditative and has helped me a lot this year with my anxiety and depression after a somewhat nasty breakup from a long-term relationship. There's also the feeling of achievement after finishing a project.